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Whiplash – the easy route to cash?

A fruend had a slight bump in a car park last September. She was reversing out of a space, looked, saw no-one, proceeded (at less than 5mph) and hit an oncoming car.

The cars were scratched. In fact the scratch was T-Cut out. So, a fortunate situation.

But then you fast forward 4 months and out of the blue arrives a letter from a no-win-no-fee lawyer. It seems that the driver of the car suffered whiplash – and is seeking compensation. He went to the City Hospital (who I don’t think have an A&E department). He is waiting for medical reports – on the ‘bone and soft tissue damage’.

The version of events proffered?

“the accident was solely as a result of the Defendants negligence in that they failed to keep a proper look out, drove too fast, failed to use steering and gears and/or brakes so as to avoid the said collision, failed to stop, swerve or slow down, failed to leave a sufficient stopping distance, failed to heed the position of the other vehicle and drove without due care and attention”.

It really is time the Insurance Industry clamped down on these sort of trumped up claims. Records uncovered by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) showed 547,405 claims for whiplash in 2011/12, compared with 571,111 in the previous year, a fall of 4.2%. That’s still 10,500 each week!

And if you Google search ‘whiplash injuries’ you will be bombarded with adverts – there’s one here (ignore the typo) but this is what they proudly say, “Om average, most minor whiplash cases do statistically settle for around £2,500. A minor whiplash is generally the most common category – so this statistic gives you a general idea of what you could be looking at.”

No wonder we are the whiplash capital of the world! £2bn paid out last year – that’s £90 per policy!